In dental hygiene, it is not only important to clean the outer surfaces of teeth to prevent the formation of cavities but also to clean the interdental spaces, and to massage the gums to prevent periodontosis which is a disease involving the supporting structure of the teeth, such as the gums and periodontal membranes; and periodontitis which is the inflammation of the connective tissue membrane covering the cement layer of a tooth.
While tooth brushes are employed for the general cleaning of teeth, dental floss has been customarily used to clean the spaces between the teeth.
After considerable research and experimentation, the interdental cleaning device of the present invention has been devised to not only clean the interdental spaces but to massage the gums to reduce the occurrence of periodontosis and periodontitis.
The interdental cleaning device of the present invention comprises, essentially, a thin brush having a carrier removably mounted in the head of a clevis freely pivoted on the end of a shank. The brush carrier extends through the clevis head and is engageable with a respective recess provided in the end of the shank, whereby the brush can be fixedly adjusted to various angles relative to the longitudinal axis of the shank, to thereby facilitate cleaning the interdental spaces from different sides of the oral cavity. A housing is provided which can be selectively mounted on one end of the shank to provide a handle when using the brush, or on the opposite end of the shank to cover the brush when not in use.